Six months later
by kaahiescheck
Summary: They all meet again in New York, just like they promised.


**You know how at the end of _The Untitled Rachel Berry Project_ they promise to meet again in New York? Well, yeah, I kinda went with that. Might be continued, idk, I sorta say that in all my fics - probably because I always think I might return to it one day... Anyways! Enjoy it!**

* * *

"It's, like, _really_ cold outside," Blaine commented as he leaned against the window, holding the curtain back and looking outside. "Are you sure that by 'right here' Rachel didn't mean the loft? That would be more comfortable for everybody."

"We _will_ come inside, eventually," Kurt said while he put on his coat. "We're not all gonna die of hypothermia before Christmas. Your parents would be severely disappointed, seeing as they already booked their flights."

"It's still cold out."

Kurt threw him a playful glare and motioned towards Blaine's coat on the couch. "Come on. Put that on and let's go. Artie texted fifteen minutes ago saying he was almost here. We can't leave him hanging."

Blaine did as he was told, albeit slowly, and followed Kurt out, locking the door behind him (yes, they'd gotten a lock). As they waited for the elevator, Blaine hooked his arm through Kurt's and said, "He was the only one who texted, wasn't he? I mean, Sam told me a few weeks ago that he still remembered it, but that was about it. And Rachel's been on a hiatus with her show, so…"

"They will come," Kurt dragged him through the elevator's door. "Don't worry."

Doing what he did so very often, Blaine looked at his fiancé with his head slightly tilted, a smile slowly gracing his face. He muttered a simple "Okay," and let things go just as Kurt returned his smile.

Once they got to the street, Kurt had to agree that yeah, it was very cold, and the wind wasn't helping at all. Luckily, they spotted Artie quickly and walked to him, hearing his complaints about how he had been there for a while and neither had noticed and come to keep him company.

Blaine glanced at his clock and sighed, causing the air in front of him to fog. "Well, we still have about seven minutes until we reach the six months mark. Which is good, because I might freeze in ten."

Just as Kurt gave him the you-are-such-a-drama-queen face, they heard a squeal and the click of heels in the pavement. And then, very suddenly, a mop of brown hair collided against Kurt's back and started laughing as arms encircled him.

"Oh, my _God_, guys!" Rachel said, face still buried in Kurt's coat. "I've missed you so much!"

"Aw, honey," Kurt turned her around so he could properly hug her, later releasing her so she could hug the other two. Once she was done squealing and greeting everyone, she latched onto Kurt's arm and started asking about their holiday plans, because _obviously_ she was staying until almost Christmas before going to Lima to visit her dads.

Artie was telling his exciting story about how he would go home for the holidays, when he was interrupted by the arrival of everyone who was missing all at once.

Sam had punched Blaine's shoulder from behind, and the latter's yell was drowned by Rachel squealing and hugging Mercedes. Brittany just sort of skipped to them while Santana yelled something in Spanish at the driver of the cab that had most likely brought them here. Once she was finished, she walked to the group. "Not like I'm not happy to see y'all, but why are we standing outside?"

Blaine glanced at Kurt and mouthed _Called it_, which earned him a roll of eyes. Santana continued, "It's freaking December. Whose idea was this?"

"Glad to see you, too," Rachel said, grinning like a maniac. "And it was my idea. Even though you weren't here, which is completely understandable, we promised we'd meet again in six months, which is today, right here, which is, well, right _here_."

"Gosh, when Brittany told me, I thought you'd meant the loft."

Kurt raised his hand to block Blaine's I-told-you-so face even before it came.

"Okay, I wanna know _all_ that's going on in your lives that you don't tell over Skype," Mercedes said, pointing at all of them. "And I wanna know what you two lovebirds have done to the place."

"Hopefully we won't find any sex toys scattered all over."

"_Santana,_" Kurt said.

* * *

Truth be told, Kurt was quite proud of what they'd done to the place. It hadn't really changed much, but you could tell it was _theirs_ now.

They had decided to keep those curtains there, even if they were open 99% of the time. Of course, the freedom of not needing them was exciting, but they were useful for when guests came over. It wasn't like they had many guests – Artie refused to have any sleepovers for fear of being traumatized. However, Kurt liked to be prepared. And they would have guests over Christmas, after all.

Rachel's bed was still there, even though she'd taken her bedding with her, leaving just the metal structure and the mattress. They'd pushed it to the corner of the walls for the sake of having more free space ("It makes the apartment look bigger") and used her abandoned wardrobe (after painting it with a darker color) to keep their most expensive suits separated from day-to-day clothing. But they simply had to get rid of her dresser, because it didn't fit their intentions to the space.

In spite of his complaints about the placement of Blaine's study desk, Kurt kept it where it was as a symbol that he could compromise to make that place just as Blaine's as it was his, and that didn't mean only getting him a study desk, but giving him the freedom to place it wherever he wished.

With Rachel's bathroom products gone, Kurt had enough space to put a vanity next to the sink, which he had asked his father to ship them (which had been a pain in the ass, but had worked, only causing a few minor bruises along the way). They had been able to replace those cheap, black net things used as cabinets for _real_ cabinets, and now all the kitchen's chairs matched.

Apart from a couple of objects here and there – like Margaret Thatcher dog perched in the living room's bookcase ("Because it's _cute_, Kurt, c'mon") – and some things that had been thrown out, those were the only changes they'd made. Still, it felt much more like home.

When the eight young adults entered the loft, they momentarily scattered to get rid of their suitcases and coats. Meanwhile, Kurt placed baked goods on the coffee table and Blaine got glasses for everyone, giving it to them as they made themselves comfortable in the living room, and then went back to get the drinks.

"See, I knew they were the perfect hosts," Artie said as he was poured a glass warm tea.

"Did anyone actually doubt that?" Kurt asked and sat down on the couch next to Mercedes.

"For a moment, when I wasn't sure I was being invited to your Christmas spectacular," Rachel answered and poked Artie from her place in the armchair by the window, making everyone laugh.

"That was a good Christmas," Mercedes smiled. "But I wanna know about _this_ year's Christmas. I stopped my malls tour for a while to spend the holidays at home."

"Well," Rachel started, "as I've said before, I'm staying here until the 21st, then I'm going to go see my dads."

"I wanna go to the North Pole," Brittany said. Even after years of knowing her, it didn't stop frowns from making their way into her friends' faces. "I haven't had time to write my letter to Santa this year, so hopefully I'll catch him before Christmas Eve."

Santana rolled her eyes. "Britt, we've talked about this. Your mom wants to see you."

"I need to see Santa."

"I'm going home as well," Artie said a bit louder than necessary to stop further comments on the whole Santa thing. "And I'm probably only coming back on Friday before classes restart, so sorry, guys," he turned to Kurt and Blaine. "You're gonna have to survive without me for a few weeks."

Blaine giggled. "I think we can manage that. My parents are coming to town."

"Uuh," Rachel grinned. "That sounds interesting. Will there be any discussions regarding a certain wedding?" she finished with a singing voice. Before he could answer, Kurt responded, "Oh, maybe. But it's just mostly because his mother misses me more than she misses him, so –" He was hit on top of his head with a couch pillow coming from Blaine, who was sat on Mercedes's other side.

"Well, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with myself yet," Sam continued their conversation. "I've been in Lima all this time."

"Oh, yes," Rachel cut in. "And what exactly have you been doing?"

"As clique as it sounds, I'm trying to form a glee club again. Marley and the other newbies are all for it and everything, but just… Sue Sylvester."

"And Mr. Schue?"

"He's got a baby," Kurt said. "I mean, he's probably going mad right now and doesn't have much time for anything."

"Well, I do," Santana cut in. "I mean, touring with Mercedes has been awesome and all that, but I'm getting bored of not doing anything."

"You're my publicist, Santana," Mercedes reminded her.

"I know, and it's so easy, because, c'mon, you already have a tour lined out in front of you. I don't have to do any work for months."

"And still gets paid," Kurt said. "Wow, and I wonder what I'm still doing at the Diner."

"How has it been here in New York, you guys?" Rachel asked with a mixture of sadness and happiness in her tone. She rested her elbows on her knees. "Sometimes I really miss it."

"No Monday night dinners, I tell you that," Artie said.

Kurt gaped. "We invite you every week!"

"It's been busy, as usual," Blaine answered Rachel. "And a bit lonely sometimes without all of you here, but…" he glanced at Kurt and his lips curled up a bit. "It's nice."

"Because you two can now have sex on every surface without getting any complaints," Santana snared.

"Okay," Kurt turned to her, "just because we now have the apartment to ourselves, it does _not_ mean we spend every waking moment having sex all over the place."

"That's not the vibe that the hobbit's red ears are giving me right now."

"Okay!" Mercedes said. "So, Rachel, how has L.A. been treating you, girl? Better than it did me?"

Rachel sat up straight, and they knew it was coming. "It's been wonderful! As you all know, my show has been quite successful during its first season, even now that we're in a hiatus, and Sydney hasn't sued me for leaving him, which is very nice. I've got called to take part on so many commercials that I can't even decide which ones to do," she squealed the last words.

"You should do something with rainbows and dogs," Brittany said. "I mean, they represent what you fight for."

A small silence followed that before Kurt clapped his hands. "Okay! What about a good, old sing-along?"

Santana closed her eyes. "Oh, for the sake of God," but Blaine had already gone over to the piano.


End file.
